Is Kean out to make Codey Senate President?

There are two kinds of labor unions -- those whose rank and file membership voted for Trump and those whose membership voted for Clinton.

President Trump and Republicans who want to build a sustainable GOP majority for the future, seek to work with those unions whose members are inclined to vote Republican or who will consider voting Republican.  These are the largely blue collar trade unions -- Teamsters, Ironworkers, Carpenters, Cabinetmakers, Plumbers, Bricklayers, Electricians, Heavy Equipment Operators, Laborers -- the Building Trades and such. 

On the other end we have the teachers, professors, administrators, and white collar government bureaucrats, clerks and such.  They love everything the Democrats stand for.  They voted for Hillary Clinton -- although some would prefer a "real socialist."  We aint getting these people.  Ever.  Not unless we lose everyone else.

So why are some Republican candidates this year running around telling conservatives that they have the backdoor support of the NJEA and it is a "game changer"?  Haven't we been here before?  Doesn't anyone remember the aftermath of Whitman years when the NJEA and those other liberal unions whose butts we had kissed for eight years turned on us and helped usher in this endless Democrat legislative majority?

We get that Senator Tom Kean Jr. still holds a grudge against the Governor and Senate President for interfering in his leadership election in 2013.  He had every right to be pissed.  It was a legit gripe.  But there comes a point when you have to do the Christian thing and let it go.  But as the AFP screw card showed, it hasn't been let go, it's been expanded to those members of the GOP caucus who sided with the Governor. 

There was more evidence this week, when the Senate Staff -- those same folks who conspired with AFP on the screw card -- sought to crank it up the asses of a few GOP Senators with a release about repealing the tax reform package and replacing it with... Nobody seems to have got that far.

We could go with the plan Senator Jennifer Beck came up with that froze state education aid for seven years to ensure seven years of brutal property tax increases.  Any takers?

In suggesting that they can "repeal the gas tax" what these assbandits actually mean is that they will repeal the Tax Reform package, the whole thing.  So every assbandit candidate who tells the voters that he or she supports "repealing the gas tax" is actually saying that he or she wants to get rid of $1.4 billion in tax cuts, which is just another way of saying that you want to raise taxes by $1.4 billion.

Here are the $1.4 billion in tax cuts these candidates want to shit-can: 

- A tax cut on retirement income.  Most New Jersey retirees will no longer pay state income tax. This tax cut would be worth more than $2,000 annually to the average retiree.

- Elimination of the Estate Tax. This will protect family farms and businesses from being forced to close to pay taxes.

- Tax cut for veterans.  Honorably discharged active duty, guard, and reserve veterans get an additional $3,000 personal income tax deduction.

- Tax credit for low-income workers.  Worth $100 annually to the average worker.

- Sales tax cut.  Worth another $100 annually to the average consumer.

- TTF local government aid:  $400 million in property tax relief for local governments.

That's a pretty sucky platform.

If these machinations are successful and Senator Dick Codey replaces Senator Steve Sweeney as Senate President, conservatives and Republicans who believe in their party's platform will go from having a pragmatic Democrat who from time to time screws us in order to pander to the Democrat base; to a genuine far-left, true-believer, who will spend his every waking hour screwing us simply for the joy of it.  That's not to say that Senator Codey isn't a charming man with a certain integrity.  He just really doesn't buy anything we have on offer and thinks that conservatives and Republicans (the RNC platform variety) are all just full of horse manure. 

Take the Second Amendment for instance.  Senator Codey has proposed two bills to do away with the Second Amendment in New Jersey.  Both S-1159 and S-351 "prohibited the sale, importation, possession and carrying of handguns except by certain authorized persons."  Now why would anyone calling him or herself a conservative or a Republican or even an American ever want to see this despoiler of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights in ANY position of power?

Our worst nightmare will be Governor Phil "Jon Corzine II" Murphy, Senate President Dick Codey, and a Leftist Democrat Speaker.  Then we will know the meaning of being screwed.  Republicans and groups like AFP should not be conspiring to get us there.

Now they're attacking Garrett for the gas tax

The anger-driven, screw-them-all cacophony of the Tea Party is now costing embattled conservative Republican Congressman Scott Garrett votes.

Facebook post:  "Didn't Garrett support the gas tax?  Really hurts Sussex County residents."

How misinformed!  But these are the kinds of conclusions drawn when you are functioning on high-octane hate.  Facts don't matter.  All that matters is rage and targets for that rage.

Scott Garrett is a Sussex County native who has represented New Jersey’s fifth congressional district since 2003.  This year, he’s locked in the most difficult race he's ever faced.  Garrett is an unabashed social conservative with an almost perfect conservative voting record.

The American Conservative Union rated him 100 percent last year. His lifetime ACU rating is 99.38.  Garrett is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus and has the support of the Club for Growth.

Still, many in the Tea Party find him suspect because he didn't rise from their ranks and his politics predates 2009 -- Year Zero for the Tea Party.  Unlike many Tea Party leaders, Congressman Garrett is an old-fashioned conservative gentleman who eschews the kind of foul-language on display from Tea Party Facebook warriors and at Tea Party rallies.  He is definitely out of step with the movement's manner of communicating. 

This has earned Garrett problems from the Tea Party in the past.  He was challenged in a Republican primary by a Tea Party member who will be playing a big part at the October 22nd Rally on Newton Green.  Despite his 99.38 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union, that Tea Party leader described Garrett as a far-left liberal.  Violence and threats have been directed at the Congressman's office.

In the past, the Tea Party has often let their emotions get the better of them.  At times, they behave as if they are disconnected from our shared reality, rejecting fact for feeling.  Too often, violence is on their lips.  They fail to forgive long time allies and friends, and instead heap the most vicious invective on them.  Here is a chilling post, by a Tea Party leader from Sussex County, that expresses the kind of desires that can grow when you fail to keep hold of your humanity, humility, and common decency:

"All 545 sitting in DC right now are guilty of treason. And all those living who have sat over the past 2 decades, since the signing of NAFTA are, too. That is our reality, they should all be indicted, dragged out in chains, the evidence a matter of congressional record and unimpeachable. And all should be subject to all the consequences the law provides up to the firing squad."

What this Tea Party leader is describing is a lynching.  Let's hope that's not what happens on the 22nd.  People don't need any more reasons to vote for our mutual opponents.

Bill Spadea... you have a lot to answer for.